Another Day
by ItTicklesLikeCrazy
Summary: Just another day in the life of Carter Kane after stopping the apocalypse. Totally normal. (Possible Son of Sobek connection)


**Sup! So, the Staff of Serapis (a sequel to the Son of Sobek) is coming out April 14th, and this idea has been buzzing around my head for a while. I figured I better post this before the sequel comes out, because this could be considered a back up to that. Do you think I should continue this? Eh?**

**The Staff of Serapis os Sadie and Annabeth, sure, and this isn't even very specific and it's all Carter-centric, but whatever.**

**HEY! I DON'T OWN ANYTHING RICK RIORDAN OR THE PUBLISHERS OBVIOUSLY OWN. UHH, DUH!**

Carter Kane wasn't having a very good day even before the squad of teenage mutant ninja waitresses attacked him. He'd woken up with high hopes for the day, since he and Sadie had gotten a reservation for lunch at a restaurant to spend some "sibling bonding time", as Cleo liked to call it. Unfortunately, the day had only gone downhill for him from there.

First, Julian and Shelby had accidentally turned breakfast rainbow colors, and nobody wanted to risk ingesting that. They'd had to steal Cheerios from Khufu. Needless to say, the baboon hadn't been very happy about that.

After that, an accidental penguin malfunction with Felix and a couple of sad "mistakes" and arguments between Alyssa and Sean had made Sadie and Carter late for their reservation by a little over half an hour. Carter, for some reason, didn't think the restaurant would be very happy about that.

Then, Carter had somehow managed to get their reservation back on track, even though he hadn't even wanted to go to this lunch, only to have Sadie ditch him. Her excuse was that she'd gotten "an offer that she simply could _not_ refuse" and had gone of who knows where with Walt to spend the afternoon with him, leaving Carter sitting alone in a fancy restaurant at a table set for two, looking pretty pathetic.

A pretty brunette waitress whose name tag read Amy had come over and taken his glumly given order with a friendly smile on her face the entire time. When she sashayed off to give his order to the cook, she had winked one of her chocolate brown eyes had him over her shoulder. That might have made Carter feel better if he was interested in her at all-which he wasn't- and if he wasn't dating Zia-which he was.

When she came back and delivered his order, she flirted so persistently Carter was tempted to launch to his feet and walk out of there right then, but that would have hurt her feelings. Plus, he was going to go through with his promise all the way, even if Sadie was off having real fun with her half-godly half-human two-in-one boyfriend.

Was it fair? Of course not, but Carter had to follow the rules even if nobody else did, because if he flaunted them, the initiates would feel like they could as well, and when you didn't follow the rules of Ancient Egypt, you tended to spontaneously combust.

Halfway through his meal, some type of pasta whose name he couldn't pronounce, he saw Amy whispering to a couple other waitresses, and pointing at him. They kept glancing at him, not even very discreetly, and whispering to each other. It made Carter feel somewhat self-conscious, especially since a pretty blonde girl giggled at one point, giving him look so judgmental Carter felt like it was almost withering. He tried to ignore them and finish his pasta.

After he'd finished eating, he waited rather impatiently for Amy to come over with the bill. It took around five minutes, but it seemed like a lot longer because some of her waitress friends were staring at him. One black-haired girl was visibly drooling, which disturbed Carter a little bit. He forced his gaze away and stared at the table until Amy glided up.

Quickly and desperately, Carter stuffed the appropriate amount of money on the table and scuttled under Amy's arm, making fast for the door. Unfortunately, his hasty getaway was doomed from the get-go. Amy caught his shoulder, her sharp fingernails digging into his shoulder, and spun him around. Carter tried to flinch without being too obvious.

"What?" Amy pouted and leaned forward slightly. She would have been giving Carter a good view down her shirt if his eyes hadn't been cast to the heavens, praying to Horus that he could get out of here without giving her a fake phone number or something. "No tip?" She batted heavily made-up eyes at him and stuck her cherry colored bottom lip out slightly.

"Sorry," Carter murmured. "I'm in a rush. Can you let go, please?" It came out a little harsher than he meant, but after the day he'd been having, he wasn't to happy.

Amy laughed, to his surprise. "Oh," she drawled. "You didn't think you were getting away that easily, did you?" She giggled again, and some of her waitressing friends who had gathered around the scene giggled too, but it sounded more like cackling to Carter. He rubbed his neck nervously. He'd rather go up against two man-eating sphinxes than a pack of teenage girls.

"I-uhm, er-" Carter stuttered, trying to back up and get Amy's hand off his shoulder. Her fingernails dug into him, and Carter nearly cried out. That _hurt_. Badly. And Carter had been used as a personal punching bag by more that his fair share of demons.

"Sweetie," Amy said, smiling broadly. There was something off about her smile. Her bottom jaw and top jaw were separated a little too much, but Amy made it seem like it was natural to her. "It's been weeks since our last meal," she murmured. It took Carter a few seconds to process that, and by the time he did it was too late to run. "We're not going to let a juicy demigod like you just run away."

Carter lunged to the side just as Amy pushed forward, tearing his shoulder out of her grip. She wheeled on him, and instead of a flawless face with shiny brown hair, Carter saw something that horrified him.

Amy's straight brunette hair had turned into pure flame that licked her shoulders and neck, not appearing to burn her or her waitress costume. Carter understood the oddity of her smile now, because she now had prominent fangs the glistened in the restaurant light. Her eyes smoldered red, like dangerous embers, and her skin was paler than a sheet of printer paper.

However, the most frightening thing Carter saw was when he made the mistake of looking down. Instead of normal legs, underneath Amy's skirt emerged two walking units that did not go well together. One was a slightly rusty bronze leg that reflected the florescent restraint lights above. The other was the leg of some barnyard animal. Carter guessed it was a donkey. Immediately he snapped his head back up and tried not to look down. Amy laughed at this, and so did the other waitresses. Carter noticed with horror that all of them, seven including Amy, had morphed into whatever Amy had turned into.

Amy sniffed the air while the other waitresses surrounded Carter and her in a circle, like a fight at some middle school. "Hmm," she pondered, tilting her head. Her flame hair draped across her neck. "You're not a demigod, are you?"

Carter wasn't really sure what that meant, but he shook his head and began to look for a way out of this trap. All the other customers were eating normally, like they didn't see a thing. He got a few glances here or there, but they just went back to enjoying the fine dining. Carter knew mortals were bad at seeing magic things, but seriously? HOw could they not notice seven waitresses with their heads on fire surrounding one poor teenage guy.

"Oh well," Amy shrugged, looking nonchalant. "You'll still make an excellent meal."

That was Carter's cue. He dodged to the left as Amy pounced, her dangerously sharp fingernails raking the air right where he was standing a moment earlier as Carter desperately rifled through the Duat and grabbed his _khopesh._ This was his _third_ _khopesh_, if anybody was still counting. He brought it out of the magical reality just as another demon waitress grabbed him from behind.

He twirled and slashed his _khopesh_ swiftly, cutting the girl right across the stomach. Instead of sand, as per the usual, _liquid gold_ poured from the gash, pooling on the floor while the girl stumbled back from the blow. Carter watched in horror as the gash began to heal before his very eyes at an alarming rate, but he couldn't watch it heal completely because three of the other girls lunged at him, snapping their fangs.

Carter dodged back, evading two of them, and slashed the third across the face. She staggered back a bit from the force of the blow, and leaked the same gold liquid as the other one Carter had wounded, but unfortunately she had fast healing too. The rest of the demon waitresses, besides Amy and the two Carter had hurt, pounced on him.

Just before they landed their blows, which would probably tear him to shreds, Carter summoned his combat avatar. He exploded upward in the center of the blue falcon figure, and all the waitresses hissed and staggered back. For the first time, they eyed him warily, looking apprehensive for a moment as they stared at his twenty-foot figure. Of course, _now_ would be the time the regular people around him started freaking out, screaming and flailing their arms as they ran from the restaurant in frenzied panic.

"Come on!" Amy hissed, and dove at his combat avatar. She was about six foot, so she went up to a little below mid-thigh on Carter's combat avatar. Still, she slashed her sharp claws-for-fingernails into the part opposite of his kneecap, and Carter's combat avatar's knee nearly buckled. Unfortunately, the other crazy, flaming waitresses were encouraged by this, and hopped forward eagerly on their uneven legs.

Carter swung his giant, glowing blue _khopesh_ at the monstrous teenage girls and sent a few of them flying back, leaking golden blood. But they just climbed up from the whatever wreckage their falls cost and came wobbling back at him, only angrier. They healed at a shockingly fast rate. What should have been a crippling blow healed in a minute, and a deathly injury healed in two.

Their golden blood formed slippery pools over the restaurant floor, which Carter carefully avoided stepping in. It could be deadly acid, for all he knew. Still, they lunged and Carter felt his strength flickering and diminishing more with every second that passed, and every blow they delivered. It took a lot of magical energy to sustain a combat avatar for this long. Carter knew if he kept at it the need for energy might start sucking on his own life force and eventually kill him, but if he let go now the demon waitresses would definitely kill him.

Suddenly, Carter found that the combat avatar had dematerialized around him completely, and he fell a few feet down and into a puddle of gold demon waitress blood. Thankfully, it didn't start burring his skin off, so Carter didn't think it was acid. Unfortunately, Amy was leaning over him, her image flickering from a pretty brunette smiling at him to a demon waitress with her head on fire.

She lurched from side to side awkwardly as she hobbled towards him on her uneven legs, but she was smiling like a beauty queen. Carter felt exhausted, and he knew he couldn't summon the combat avatar again without a serious boost. Amy and the other girls seemed to know this, because instead of trying to rip him into little bitty pieces, they were taking their precious time.

Carter leapt to his feet, his linen clothes soaked with the golden liquid he'd been sitting in. He brandished his _khopesh_, even though exhaustion and adrenaline ran through his veins and bones in almost equal quantities. Carter was afraid that the exhaustion was about to win. Still, he lunged at Amy had sliced her shoulder nearly in two. She giggled and paused to a moment, leaning her fiery hair away from the wound while it healed.

The rest of the demons had encircled them, like before, so there was no escape route for Carter. One of the demon waitress girls came forward and smacked his _khopesh_ out of his hand before Carter could react. He tried to swallow his fear, but it wouldn't go down as he stared into Amy's frightening red eyes, smoldering with anger.

"Well, it's been _fun_," Amy put emphasis on that word, mocking Carter. "But seeing as you don't have a weapon that will do actual damage," Amy giggled. "Well, I think it's time for lunch."

She lunged forward with incredible speed and raked her fangs across Carter's neck. Carter lurched away and put a hand to his neck, crimson blood pouring from the wound. The rest of the girls tensed as soon as his skin had been broken, and suddenly Carter realized what they were after. Blood. They were like science project prototype vampires. Amy came after him again, but the pain had stimulated Carter, and he managed to dodge. Amy stumbled past him.

Just as Amy was going to make another jump, one Carter was sure he couldn't avoid, one of the crazy demon waitresses to his right exploded into golden confetti. Amy's head snapped in that direction, and her eyes narrowed. She sniffed the air, and her eyes flared so they looked even more murderous. "_Demigod_," she hissed, hatred so evident in her tone Carter nearly shirked back.

Immediately, all the waitresses turned their attention from Carter to where the pile of gold dust that was once their comrade lay. Another demon, this time to Carter's left, exploded as well, letting off only a small, strangled screech. Carter stared around, confused, just as a row of three she-demons exploded behind him. He swiveled and saw a blur of orange, blue, and black before it disappeared. Amy looked infuriated.

The only demon left besides Amy suddenly jumped for Carter, fangs flashing in the florescent lights of the restaurant. Before she could even get halfway to Carter, she exploded mid-jump, raining golden dust all over Carter and the figure standing beneath her. A long blur of golden metal swished down, and suddenly the figure was standing right in front of Amy.

"_You_," Amy hissed, hatred evident in her tone. "How dare you vanquish my sisters!"

Carter expected the figure to move in to kill, or laugh, or do a backflip, even, but instead he just chuckled incredulously. "Uhh, your name is Yam?"

"AMY!" The she-demon snapped, and leaped forward on her mismatched legs with intent to kill written all over her face. The figure took a few steps back, and Carter tried to stumble out of the way, slipping on another puddle of golden blood and landing on his butt. The figure swung his arm upward, weapon grasped in his fist, and Amy exploded like all the rest of the demons, golden dust littering the restaurant floor.

The figure turned, and it was all Carter could do to keep his mouth from dropping open. He finally managed, "Percy." Carter swallowed. "Fancy seeing you here."

It seemed like eons ago, but Carter remembered the day vividly. It had been something a little under a year since then, but Carter never forgot the happenings no matter how much time passed. He knew he never would. Battling a giant crocodile with a mysterious guy with mysterious powers kind of burned itself into your memory.

"'Sup," the black-haired teen said, heaving Carter to his feet. Carter's stomach was doing the Macarena. Percy gathered a fist-full of restaurant napkins that weren't soaked in golden blood and pressed them to Carter's neck, putting pressure on the bleeding.

"Uhh…thanks," Carter murmured, taking the napkins from the older teen and pressing them to his own neck. He tried not to blush, standing there covered in golden blood and his own sheen of sweat while Percy looked as cool as a cucumber after just killing seven demon waitresses.

"No problem," Percy said, shrugging. "What are allies for besides to save you when you're about to become some monster's lunch?"


End file.
